A Different Path
by Hinata001
Summary: For Sasuke's Birthday. Summary: Decisions make all the difference. For Naruto and Sasuke, this is more than true. They are about to see what could have been while helping their younger alternate selves change the future of their world. But what will happen to their own? These two wayward brothers have a long road ahead of them.


_A.N.- 7/23: So, I just realized it's Sasuke's birthday. In honor of it, I am typing up the first chapter of a story I've been planning centering around him, Naruto and Itachi (at least at first). _

_Also, please read AN at bottom of page as that is where most of my thoughts go. _

_ Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the bold quote. _

_ Please Review._

Ch. 1: The Truth

_ "I always lied to you and asked you to forgive me, deliberately keeping you at a distance by my own hand…I didn't want you to get caught up in any of this. But now, I think that perhaps __you__ could have changed Father and Mother and the rest of the Uchiha. If I had only cone to you from the start, looked you straight in the eyes and told you the truth. With me, who failed telling you all this , now from above it's not going to penetrate and sink in. But I want to impart at least this much truth to you…You don't ever have to forgive me…and no matter what you do from here on out, know this…I will love you always." _

Sasuke stared blankly up at his ceiling fan. Itachi's words echoed through his mind. _"I believe you can stop the coup' and save both our clan and the village." _How was he supposed to do that? He was barely eight-years-old. What could he do that Itachi couldn't? _"I believe you can chance Father and Mother and the rest of the Uchiha." _He shuddered and curled himself into a ball, hugging his knees. How could he do that when the Hokage and Itachi hadn't been able to?

'_If I don't do this either the Clan or the Village is destroyed, maybe even both,' _he told himself. _'Itachi is trusting me to do this. I can't let him down. If I do…' _He shuddered again as images filled his mind. He could see the bodies of his clan members sprawled out on the streets of the compound. He saw himself full of hatred and darkness, lost in a desire to destroy his brother and then the village he had once called home. He witnessed his friends die, some by his own hands, and the ninja world fall to a man he could have stopped. He didn't know how he knew that was what would happen if he did nothing. The images and feelings were so strong they felt like his own memories. He couldn't let that happen. His determination grew and for some reason his eyes began to itch. Shaking his head, he slid out of bed and quietly left his room, making sure to grab his weapons. He needed a walk to sort his thoughts.

He was able to sneak out of his house easy enough, the compound even more so. The usually filled streets were empty.

'_There must be a coup' meeting,' _he thought. Resisting the urge to turn back and interrupt the meeting, he continued past the compound gates. _'Not yet. I don't have a plan.' _

Walking through the streets of Konoha, he kept close watch on the villlagers' reactions to him. As usual, most of them either ignored him until they saw the symbol on his shirt and recognized him.

"_Good morning Sasuke."_

"_Hello Sasuke, where's your brother?"_

"_How is school going Sasuke?"_

The typical greetings helped relieve some of his anxiety. Though there was respect and fear from the villagers, there certainly wasn't any hate.

"Hey! Get back here Demon Brat!" He tensed and froze, afraid he had thought to soon. This was a mistake. Something collided with him as he started to turn around and he found himself on the ground. Groaning, he rubbed his head and turned to face the culprit, only to groan again, this time in exasperation.

"What did you do this time Naruto?" he asked the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy in front of him. He frowned as he took in the bruises, cuts and scrapes visible on his classmate's body as well as the fear in his eyes. His typical foxlike grin was absent.

"There you are Demon," the voice that had called out earlier said. Sasuke followed Naruto's horrified stare to see a burly man with a forehead protector and vest marking him as a Leaf Village Chunin. Without a second thought, Sasuke jumped up and grabbed Naruto's arm. Ignoring the flinch in response but taking note of it, he pulled Naruto with him as he ran towards the protection of the compound.

He mentally cursed when the Chunin suddenly appeared in front of them as they were nearing the compound.

"You're going to pay for that demon," the Chunin said.

"I said I'm sorry for bumping into you," Naruto said defiantly, regaining some of his usual stubbornness.

Sasuke had to gape, despite the seriousness of the situation. This was because Naruto had bumped into the guy, not because of one of his pranks. He had been shocked that somebody would beat up a kid, but this was crazy. He watched in horror as the Chunin pulled out a kunai, Naruto's scars suddenly making sense. He didn't even seem to care that there was another kid with Naruto. He moved to protect Naruto and glared at the ninja who froze in shock. "The…the Sharingan, he's an Uchiha!" The Chunin dropped his kunai in shock and started to run away.

"That's enough," a voice said as three ANBU suddenly appeared blocking the ninja's way. Sasuke grinned in relief at the familiar ANBU closest to him. _'Big Brother!'_ he thought.

"You are under arrest for the assault of a child and the attempted assault of another," a wolf-masked ANBU said.

"I'll take him from here," the third ANBU said. He grabbed the Chunin and disappeared with him, leaving them with the other two ANBU.

"Are you okay?" The raven-masked ANBU that was closest to Sasuke, Itachi, asked, turning to them. He seemed to freeze in shock as he glanced at Sasuke. He suddenly pulled off his mask and kneeled in front of him. "Sasuke, do your eyes feel weird?" he asked.

"Yeah," he replied nodding. "My vision's weird too." He frowned. "What does it mean?"

Itachi smiled proudly and Sasuke listened in shock to his answer. "It means, congratulations Sasuke. You've awakened your Sharingan."

"Naruto, why don't we go see Lord Hokage," he heard the wolf ANBU say.

"But…." Naruto said.

Sasuke looked over to his classmate. "We'll talk tomorrow at school," he said.

Naruto nodded, his grin appearing. He watched as his new friend disappeared with the ANBU. Once he was alone with Itachi, he focused on his brother, preparing to ask about how he had activated the Sharingan when he was barely eight, several months younger than Itachi had been. He was stopped by his body suddenly becoming weak and his vision blurring. His last thought before he fell unconscious was that it was probably because he had wanted to protect Naruto.

**Location: unkown**

"**It is beginning," a voice said. "The changes we have made will echo throughout time, making this alternate universe better than the first."**

"**Do not be rash Kurama," another voice replied. "A lot can go wrong. Tobi is still alive and will stop at nothing to carry out his plans. We also do not know whether Sasuke's new path will be enough to overcome the memories of his other self we have a given him. You know what happened to him."**

"**Naruto will not let that happen again Takayami," Kurama replied. "Neither will Itachi, Kakashi or Sakura. They will die before they allow him to go down that path again."**

"**That is what I am afraid of," Takayami said. "We can only hope for the best and that the walls between the two realities remain closed. Otherwise, the devastation would be too enormous for even our powers to handle."**

___Meanwhile: _

_**Sasuke**_

Sasuke groaned as he opened his eyes. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was reviving Orochimaru to learn the truth about the past. No, that wasn't right. Memories returned and he struggled not to physically react as he realized the truth. He glanced down at his trembling hands that were definitely way too small. He was in an alternate past, judging by his memories, and was eight again.

"Good, you're awake Sasuke," a familiar voice said.

Sasuke struggled to keep himself from crying at the sight of his brother sitting beside him on the edge of the bed.

"Wha-what happened?" he asked. He had an idea, but he needed to confirm it.

"You passed out from chakra exhaustion after activation your Sharingan while protecting Naruto," his brother answered.

"Mother and Father…"

"Know, but I told them I would watch over you until you woke up," Itachi said. "They're very proud of you."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you Big Brother," he said.

Itachi smiled. "You're welcome Sasuke. Now get some more rest. I'll be back soon with food." He ruffled Sasuke's hair gently before leaving the room.

Alone, Sasuke let himself contemplate what had happened. He had a chance to prevent the massacre. No, not just the massacre. He could prevent the coup'. Reviewing this life's memories, he realized this version of Itachi had told his younger self about it, had trusted him with the truth.

Closing his eyes, he began to slip off to sleep.

**"You can't destroy Konoha."**

**He blinked in shock at his new surroundings. He was standing on a street of the compound. It was night and the moon hanging in the sky was a blood red. He briefly noted that he was back to his 17-year-old self before his attention turned to the young boy across from him. It was his eight-year-old self. The child was staring warily at him with bright red eyes. "I won't let you. It's my body. I'm the one in control."**

** Sasuke frowned. "I don't plan to destroy it. You can keep control of your body. This is a chance to make things right. I would simply mess it up." As much as the idea of being stuck inside this place sucked, it was better than going back to the original world he had left behind. Plus, his younger self was right. It was his body. He would be no better than Orochimaru if he took it, even if it was in a way his own. Maybe… "Just one stipulation though," he said.**

** "What?" his younger self asked with narrowed eyes. **

** "You let me train you. I want to help stop the coup' and prevent the massacre."**

**A question ran through his mind as his younger self agreed. Was he the only one that had come to this world? With his luck the answer was no. If he had to guess, Naruto and Sakura were probably here too. Well, there was only one way to find out. Looks like going back to school had just become interesting.**

_Naruto_

When he had woken up this morning to discover he was in the past in an alternate universe, he had done the most logical thing he could think of…freak out. (Hey, I did say that _he _could think of) After several seconds of shouting, he had been calmed by a seriously pissed off Kurama that had been woken up. The Kyuubi had explained that he and another demon had used their powers to send a bit of themselves to this dimension so that they could change it for the better. They weren't the only ones here. Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and many others had possibly come as well. The idea of not having to have his final fight with Sasuke was a relief, though he did worry about his original world. Still, it wasn't every day you got to meet your younger self, especially one who had been raised by an alternate version of Kurama.

Mini-me had full control of their body now, but Naruto could still sense and see everything that was happening. He had been horrified to realize that the village hadn't come to accept him yet and that his younger self was still the subject of more than just hate-filled glares. He recognized the Chunin that had attacked him. He had done the same thing in his universe. Then Sasuke had shown up. He had sensed Kurama's worry when he realized that this Sasuke had activated the Sharingan. He was worried himself. He didn't want this Sasuke to go down the same path his counterpart had.

His younger self hadn't had time to talk to Sasuke before an ANBU he recognized as Kakashi decided to leave that they should leave Itachi and Sasuke alone and visit the Hokage. It took him a second to realize that it would be Old Man Third they would be seeing, not Granny Tsunade. The thought of seeing the old man filled him with anticipation as he realized who else would be alive: Haku, Asuma, Jiraiya…The last one made him grin. He would be able to see the Pervy Sage again. Yet, just as his friends would be alive, so would his enemies. Orochimaru and Tobi, the Akatsuki. All his friends wouldn't remember either. Garra was still being driven insane by Shukaku. There were so many painful memories he would have to face again. Still, he was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, host of the Nine Tailed Fox. He wouldn't let that stop him from making sure this world turned out better than his own.

"_**Are you talking to yourself?" **_his younger self asked as they entered the Hokage's office with Kakashi, who was definitely paying more attention to him than he was supposed to be at this point in time.

"You're late Kakashi," the Third said, pulling Naruto's attention to what was happening.

"Sorry Lord Hokage, but I was helping Raven and Bear with a situation concerning Naruto and Sasuke."

"Bear informed me of what happened," the Third said.

Kakashi, or Wolf (as that was his ANBU codename) nodded. "Raven is with Sasuke. It seems Itachi is not the only prodigy."

"Indeed," the Third said. "One can only wonder what that will mean for our village."

Kakashi seemed confused but didn't say anything.

The Third asked his younger self something but Naruto was too focused on his own thoughts to listen.

Sasuke had been a prodigy in his world as well. He only hoped that he didn't go the same way as his predecessor. If his Sasuke was here, then what would he do? Would he take control of his younger self and continue with his plans for revenge? Naruto doubted it. Sasuke would be intrigued by the second chance and would probably focus on stopping the massacre. Either way, he would find out tomorrow.

_AN: So, this chapter is a lot longer than those of Searching for a Bird. I wanted to try it._

_Do you like it? I wasn't going to add our Naruto and Sasuke at first but Sasuke's foreshadowing of the manga and the scene with Kurama and Takayami (who will remain a mystery for a while yet.) kept nagging at me to do it. Sakura will have her time too as well as Hinata. I am a huge SasuSaku, NaruHina shipper. I will be switching back and forth between our four protagonists. It will be interesting to see how everything unfolds. The next chapter will probably be in young Naruto's POV as he hasn't had one yet unlike the others, though Sasuke may decide to steal the spotlight as usual._

_This story was originally just me imagining how things would be if Itachi told Sasuke about the Massacre. Then I wondered what it would be like if Kurama had decided to raise Naruto. Add in Sasuke and Naruto becoming friends, interdimensional travel and an all-powerful god/demon and you get a recipe for this story. _

_For those of you who read my Searching for a Bird story, I am current;y working on Dick's prequel, Wings of Night, but my muse has been stuck on Tron with my rediscovered love for it after discovering Tron Uprising. _

_Do you like? Please Review. _


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